


Right Hand

by boredomsMuse



Series: October Prompts [12]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:28:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26999674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boredomsMuse/pseuds/boredomsMuse
Summary: The truth is a flexible, easily moulded by those we should not trust.For all Jasper's efforts, Will learns this the hard way.
Relationships: Brotherly Bonds - Relationship
Series: October Prompts [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951741
Kudos: 6





	Right Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Day 12: **Hero to Villain/Villain to Hero**   
> This is definitely the second one, and a little hint of the first one. [And this is my link of links.](https://linktr.ee/kailsmusings)
> 
> So when I wrote this prompt I intended to write about one of my characters swapping from the hero to the villain in their story, or vice versa.
> 
> And in the end I ended up exploring one of the characters from a concept I have, and his journey from Villain to Hero. So have this story about a couple of siblings in a superhero world, and know that we will come back to this in two days when I get to To Survive/Secret Relationship.

Stumbling into his safehouse, Will almost immediately crumbles to a pile on the floor. His world is following suit. Everything he ever believed, ever trusted, is melting away and dripping through his fingers. It joins the puddle of blood started by his red-coated hands. 

How could he be so stupid?

How could he be so cruel?

All his life, Will’s truth has been his father’s words. Never once has he doubted the man’s stories, no matter what anyone else would claim. Will’s mother left them, scared away by the commitment of children. His brother ran away, spoilt and angry and stupid. The Quint Company is a mainly medical business, with some side dealing for company security. 

The abominations those so-called ‘heroes’ stop, that their enemies place at their feet? QC has nothing to do with them. It’s the ‘heroes’ that create those, in order to give them public favour and to lose QC clients.

Jasper betrayed them. He joined their enemies, who want nothing more than to kill Will and his father. The only way to stop them is to kill them first. Jasper included.

His father's words echo in Will’s head now as he searches, desperately, for a truth he can still believe. For some proof that he is not as blind and stupid as he feels. 

Some part of him, a scared and selfish part, still wants to believe all of it. Wants to believe that there’s an explanation for tonight, an explanation beyond that Will is a fool.

He knows there isn’t one.

Will can deny his brother's words all he wants. He can kick and scream and call Jasper the liar. But he can’t deny what he’s seen.

That little girl, her face warped with terror and pain as she was ripped limb from limb. His father, disinterested and uninterested as he watched. Rows and rows of abominations, of monsters. All in a warehouse his father claimed didn’t exist. 

It won’t be long, Will thinks, before someone finds the body of the scientist he killed. Before someone realizes who killed them. 

The safehouse won’t last long.

Numb and still in shock, Will forces himself from the floor and to the bathroom. He washes the blood from his hands, like he has a million times before, and for the first time he doubts. 

There are so many he’s killed at his father’s orders. Did any of them really deserve it? 

The water has been running clear for several minutes by the time Will turns off the tap. He hesitates then, knowing he can’t stay but unsure of what to do now. Should he pack? 

Did Jasper pack, Will wonders as he starts to go through the safehouse rooms. He can’t remember if his brother’s room was untouched, the morning he woke up an only child. Within a week, Jasper’s room was completely gone. Like he’d never existed. Even the media didn’t mention him again.

Will supposes the same thing will happen to him. And yet, he barely takes anything from the safehouse. A couple changes of clothes, some money. Everything sentimental suddenly seems like a flame he doesn’t want to touch. 

Closing the door, still more numb than human, Will escapes into the night.

* * *

As sprawling as it is, Norkon has a fairly large pool of superheroes. Only Viabridge and Tanson City have a similar collection, both in numbers and power. Will has heard that Haren outstretches all three in numbers, but doesn’t come close in power, and Anpolis’ heroes are the strongest despite there being so few.

Will can’t speak for the other cities, but Norkon’s heroes are well-organized. With fairly predictable teams and patrols, at least in the calmer times of year. If Will were smart, he would use this predictability to hide. 

Instead, he sits himself in the path of Wordless and he waits.

It’s almost midnight when Wordless appears. He’s later than usual and without the usual backing of Golden Arrow or Wanderer, Will can only assume Wordless waited until after patrol to speak to him.

“Right hand.” He acknowledges, tone and expression void of emotion. Will stays sitting, suddenly unsure about what to say. Wordless raises an eyebrow, continuing. “If you’re here, I’m assuming you found the warehouse.”

“I did.” Will manages, almost choking on the words.

“And are you here to kill me?” The question makes Will flinch. It had been his brother’s final deal, exhausted and frustrated. 

_ “If you really don’t believe me, then go find Warehouse thirty-seven. If you’re still on father’s side after that, I’ll give up.” _ He’d snapped. Father had said the warehouse didn’t exist, Will had kept digging for the chance to finally stop his brother.

Some part, that desperate and selfish part, wishes he hadn’t. Perhaps he’s still cruel, even without his father’s lies.

“I’m not.” He says, lowering his hand. “I, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He adds, feeling the tears finally start to form.

“Actions speak louder than words.” Wordless claims, looking away. 

“What can I do then?” Will asks, begs almost. “Turn myself in?” He offers.

“Don’t bother, you’d just end up with father again.” Wordless says.

“Then what? Please Jasper, I need…” He trails off, not sure what he needs. Redemption? A chance to not be the bad guy? 

Family?

Wordless slumps, sighing and running a hand through dyed black hair. “You be better. That’s all I can give you Will.” He says, with a half-shrug. 

“Is that what you did?” Will asks, quietly.

“It’s what I tried to do.” Wordless answers, shrugging again. “But it was a very different situation, Right Hand.” The title makes Will flinch again, but it’s not a title he can ignore. Jasper was a no one when he left, at least to the world at large? But Will… Will’s a supervillain.

God.

How stupid do you have to be, to never realize you’re a supervillain?

Wordless sighs again, drawing Will from his thoughts. He pulls a small notebook and a pen from his belt, noting something down before tearing the paper out.

“Here.” He says, holding it out. 

“What is it?” Will asks, taking the paper. There’s an address written, as well as a code.

“A safehouse.” Wordless answers. “I don’t use it anymore. You can use it for however long you need. Bye Will.” Before Will can say anything - can thank him, can ask why Wordless says so final - the hero is gone.

And Will is left alone. With a piece of paper and his mistakes.

* * *

Wordless doesn’t use the safehouse anymore, but someone else does stop by.

“Whoa there bud.” The man greets, unbothered by the knife Will has thrown into the wall by his right. “Didn’t Jasper tell you about me?” 

“Jasper?” Will repeats unsure of how this man whose decades older than him could relate to his brother.

“I’ve been… looking after him for a while.” The man explains. “Most people call me The Engineer, but I prefer to go by Kit. Short for Christopher.”

“Oh.” Will mumbles, relaxing some. The Engineer is a well known name among supers, seemingly the heroes go-to for gadgets although no one claims to have seen him. “Why are you here?” He asks, still a little cautious.

“I thought I’d come check up on you, see how you were doing.” Kit answers. 

“Why?” Will presses. “I didn’t think Jasper wanted anything more to do with me.” Or at least that’s the impression Will got last night. Not that he can say he blames Jasper, or even that he’s surprised. Not after everything he’s done.

“He doesn’t.” Kit confirms, trying to sound gentle. 

“Then why are you here?” Will repeats, clenching his fists in a desperate attempt to not start shaking. Of course Jasper wants nothing to do with him, he reminds himself, Will tried to kill him. Serval times.

“I met Jasper a couple days after he got away. He was… a mess, to put it lightly. I wasn’t going to let him deal with it alone, and I’m not going to let you deal with it alone either.” Kit explains.

“But it’s different, isn’t it? Jasper never… Jasper never killed anyone for him.” He argues, quickly losing his battle against his shaking hands.

“You’re a kid that’s made mistakes, because your father’s been lying to you your whole life.” Kit says. “That doesn’t make you irredeemable Will.”

“But Jasper  _ told  _ me.” Will sniffles, starting to curl in on himself. The words are harder to say out loud than they were to think. “He told me, and I didn’t believe him.”

“You didn’t want to.” Kit says, approaching gently but obviously. “Neither did Jasper, when he found out.” Will lets himself be led to the couch, leaning into Kit as the adult holds him and lets him fall apart.

* * *

Kit suggests starting over somewhere else. It’d be the easiest option, he says, and the safest. There’s no shame in trying to live a normal life.

He smiles when Will refuses. A mixture of pride and resignation. 

“If you want to do this the hard way, you’ll need gear.” Kit says and Will gets the odd sense that he’s said it before. “Just let me know what you need.”

Will writes a list of all the people he owes, and he gets to work.

* * *

Becoming a hero isn’t really his goal. All Will wants is to make things right. Which mostly means stopping his father and helping those he’s hurt. It doesn’t mean joining the heroes, it doesn’t mean earning their trust.

And he doesn’t. Not really.

But one of the people he’s hurt the most is Jasper, and Wordless is one of the biggest heroes in Norkon. 

It doesn’t take long for the news to start reporting about Right Hand’s shifted alliance. It takes longer for the heroes to not be on guard when he shows up.

Will never expected either to happen really.

* * *

If there’s one thing Kit and Will can agree on (actually they agree on a lot of things, but anyway-) it’s that Jasper has zero self-preservation skills.

It seems every other week Wordless gets hurt protecting another hero, or a civilian, or because he’s saving the world. Kit and Will hate it. But it does present Will with a chance. If he can save Jasper’s life as many times as he tried to kill him then surely they’ll be even. And maybe… and maybe Jasper will still hate him, but at least he’ll have tried.

Kit doesn’t like this plan.

That doesn’t stop Will.

* * *

He’s a little only half-way caught up when it happens.

It’s their father’s fault, of course it’s their father’s fault. A herd of his abomination have been set loose on the city. Will isn’t sure if it’s a distraction, an accident, or if the creatures are hunting someone. He doesn't particularly care. Getting rid of his father’s abominations has been on the top of Will’s to do list since he chose the hard way.

Maybe that’s why Wordless is always the first on the scene with abominations. Maybe it’s why he’s more reckless. 

Whatever the reasons, Will and Jasper end up fighting in the same area. With swift orders, Jasper has Will evacuating citizens so his fire can make quick work of the creatures.

It’s not quick enough.

“Wordless!” Will screams as another abomination races towards his brother, dagger-like quills ready to disperse. In slow motion, Will watches Wordless turn his head but he knows it won’t be quick enough. 

Speed isn’t something Will is good at enhancing. The energy he was infused with usually goes to his strength, to his eyes. At that moment it doesn’t matter. 

He isn’t fast enough to move them out of the way. He’ll only bump Wordless, then they’ll both be impaled.

He  _ is  _ fast enough to shield Wordless.

Spikes tear through his skin and Will hears someone scream. It’s not him, or at least he doesn’t think it is. The ground beneath him crumbles and everything goes dark.

* * *

Will doesn’t expect to wake up, not really. Sure his enhancement makes him heal better, but surely it’s not  _ that _ much better.

The room he’s in has a gentle glow when he opens his eyes. 

“Where am I?” Will manages before groaning, his throat feeling dry and his body aching.

“The Base.” The answer startles him. Looking over, Will finds Jasper offering him a drink bottle. Or Wordless, really, since he’s still entirely in costume.

“You let me on The Base?” Will frowns, after taking a few sips from the drink bottle. Few heroes are allowed at The Base, Will’s never heard of a villain being welcomed.  Then again, he’s not really a villain anymore, is he?

“You were about to die, I didn’t give the others a choice.” Wordless claims. “Although you aren’t allowed out of the medical wing.” 

“Why are you helping me?” Will can’t help but ask.

“Will, you were  _ about to die _ .” Wordless repeats, stressing the words even though that doesn’t help Will understand any better.

“But… I haven’t made it up to you yet.” He says. “I haven’t saved you as many times as I tried to kill you.” He explains at Wordless’ confused expression. For a moment Wordless just blinks, and then he laughs. It’s not a happy laugh, it’s somewhere between relief and ‘this is ridiculous’.

“You’ve made it up to me.” He says, when he calms down. “You got a lot closer to dying than you ever got to killing me.”

“So… you don’t hate me anymore?” Will asks, sounding hopeful despite his best attempts not to. Again, it takes Wordless a minute to respond.

“No.” He decides. “No Will, I don’t hate you.”

* * *

Will still isn’t folded into the heroic ranks, he still doesn’t want to be. But Jasper makes it clear to everyone that he’s not a villain, and he won’t be treated as such.

It’s sort of… nice, working on a heroes team.

* * *

“You’re going to be fine.” Will says, panicking as he presses his hands tightly to the gash on Wordless’ side. “We’ll just stay back here, until it’s over.”

“It’s not going to be over.” Wordless says, hazy eyes still focused on the monster slowly pulling itself out of a tear in time and space.

“We’ve got the strongest heroes in the world here. They can end it.” Will claims. “ _ You _ don’t have to.” 

“No one else understands the multiverse like I do.” Wordless says, smiling even as tears start pooling in Will’s eyes.

“It doesn’t always have to be you saving the world.” He pleads, quiet and desperate and refusing to move his hands when Wordless tries to push them off.

“It does when no one else can do it.” Wordless argues.

“Please.” Will tries, even though he knows it’s not going to work.

“I love you Willow Tree.” Wordless says. “Go to sleep.” He adds, voice ringing differently. Against his will, his eyes slip shut.

* * *

When Will wakes up, Jasper is gone.

“I don’t know what he did.” Golden Arrow admits. “He sang something and the creature was sucked back into the tear, but so was he.”

“He’s gone.” Wanderer adds, quiet and soft.

“He can’t be.” Will argues, even when Kit is holding him close that night. “He can’t be.”

* * *

Multi isn’t much of a hero or much of a villain. No one really knows what her deal is, but Jasper doesn’t particularly like her.

When Jasper is gone, Will finds out why.

“You’re not from our universe.” He accuses, when he finally finds her.

“Very close little branch.” Multi hums, not looking up from her phone. “I’m from many universes. The Jaspers of the multiverse don’t think I’m very stable.”

“Then you know what happened to him, don’t you?” Will asks, refusing to get sidetracked.

“He dragged the consumer into the space between universes. It probably killed them both.” Multi shrugs.

“It didn’t!” Will shouts, finally getting Multi to look up. “Jasper’s alive, he has to be.”

“If he is, he’s not in this universe anymore.” Multi says. 

“Then tell me how to find him. I know you know how.” WIll claims. He doesn’t know that. Multi is his only hope.

“I could.” Multi confirms and Will’s shoulder slump with relief. “But it’s dangerous, not particularly heroic. Jasper won’t like it.”

“I don’t care.” Will says. He doesn’t want to be a hero, right now he doesn’t even care if this makes him a villain. “As long as I get Jasper back.”

“Alright then.” Multi grins, pushing herself to her feet. “Let’s go universe surfing.”


End file.
